Tobaski, better known across the world as Eid al-Adha in Arabic which means “Festival of the Sacrifice,” commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son at God’s command. However, God intervened and provided him a lamb to kill instead according to scripture. The holiday is in the final month of the Islamic lunar calendar and lasts for three days while Muslims symbolically sacrifice sheep and share with family and friends.
Benechin is fried rice with vegetables and either fish, chicken or meat. It is often also served with a tasty leafy-green okra sorrel. For the Tobaski Edition, we of course had plenty of meat at the center of the food bowl.
In The Gambia, Simba is not a cute little lion cub who wants to be king. Simba is instead a lion-like masquerade that can only be described as horrifying yet somehow weirdly entertaining. Which come to think of it, is exactly how I felt about the Lion King as a kid.
From a young age, children are meant to work. It is their duty to not only obey, but to consider it an honor to be told to do a job.
Ñebey is a beautiful thing. Mostly because it is one of the few Gambian dishes that doesn’t include white rice.
I can now carry a full bucket of water on my head without spilling a drop. It is actually much easier than waddling the few hundred meters from the tap to my compound with the bucket awkwardly in-hand.
My teenage sisters wanted to say goodbye to me with swagger and style, to give me something I would never forget. So, they arranged a “meet and greet” with the village dance crew, “The American Boyz,” who performed a private show for me at our family’s compound.
